Story+1984-12-07+Tallahassee,+FL

‘‘Thank you, this is uh....this song is uh....I remember when I was growing up, there was.... there was this house that stood out....stood out on the edge of town on this hill.....and it seemed like it always, was always, always there.....I can remember at night....sometimes my dad, he....he´d sit in the kitchen and he’d be asking....he’d ask me if I wanted to go for a ride and he’d take me, take me in the car through town....and he’d always ride out past this house, we’d sit out on the side of the highway, he’d smoke a cigarette and look up there.... and in my town, factories closed down but the mansion on the hill remained.....”
 * 07.12.84 Tallahassee, FL, intro to ‘ Mansion on the Hill’**

‘‘Thank you, thank you.....here´s a song, it’s about, uh....I guess ultimately it’s about isolation and what happens to you.....when you get cut off from the things around you..... but uh....everybody has certain events and certain things in their lives that they kind of mark their, mark their lives by and I remember when I was in high school, I remember being out on the field during gym class when a kid came running over to me and, and told us all the John Kennedy’d been shot....and I remember I was, I was living on this farm when.....when a friend of mine called me up and told me that Elvis Presley had died...and uh, it was hard to understand how, how somebody who had taken away so many people´s loneliness could´ve ended up so lonely....and how....a dream that started out as a good dream..... and a fair dream....and how in the end it can kill you....this is called ‘Bye Bye Johnny’....”
 * 07.12.84 Tallahassee, FL, intro to ‘Johnny Bye Bye’ **

‘‘Now, this is a song....that is both instructional in purpose and fun to dance to....I mean it’s about ancient history....do we have any history majors out there ? (cheers)...alright, but now, this ain’t about the Mesopotamians and this ain’t about the Trojans and this ain´t about the Italians....I’m talking about personal stuff....things that you´re gonna read about me in the National Enquirer after I die....or if my girlfriend gets mad at me, you’re gonna read about it while I’m still alive....in one of them tell-all books....you know, see, when I was a kid, I was interested in three things....now, one of ´em was my father was big pool player, his father was....so I tried to learn how to play pool....then the other one was....the guitar, I got interested in...and then the third one was....the one that everybody’s interested in....that one ! ....but then around, it was around Christmastime when my mother, she took me to Sears.... and for 69.95, she bought me this pooltable and like we went out and we tied it to the roof of the car and we drove it home but my father wouldn’t let me have it downstairs so we put it up in my bedroom.....so like I used to bring my girlfriends over and I would say ‘Dad, we’re gonna go up in my room and play pool for a little while’....but, but, like, he used to sit right down there in the kitchen, right underneath my room so if he didn’t hear the poolballs knocking around or if he didn´t hear the guitar playing, he had this broomstick that he used to bang on the ceiling all the time....trying to disrupt my concentration.....ruin my fore....but anyway, I kind of got wise to him ´cause like I used to pull the pooltable like over close to the bed and then like every once in a while I would just, I would just lean up and knock the balls around a little bit....wow...but anyway.....as I got older and matured, I gave up pool and of the other two, the only one I really became good at was the guitar....but the third one.... I’m still looking for some volunteers who wanna practise, practise, practise....practise makes perfect....oh, I’m so lonely (chuckles)....anyway in the end, all things must pass.....it ain´t nothing but glory days leaving you behind.....”
 * 07.12.84 Tallahassee, FL, intro to ‘Glory Days’**

‘‘Let´s do this, then we´ll do that one, alright (chuckles)....this is a song about the fleetingness of love....how it passes so quickly....”
 * 07.12.84 Tallahassee, FL, intro to ‘I’m Goin’Down’**

‘‘No matter how old you get or how far down, you gotta keep looking for that Promised Land....”
 * 07.12.84 Tallahassee, FL, intro to ‘The Promised Land’**

´´Thanks...this, uh....this next song is a song I wrote about....three years ago, I guess ....and, uh, I was living in California at the time, I was thinking about....the town that I´d grown up in....what it was like there....and uh....when I was a kid, I guess everybody kind of has a love-hate-relationship with the place they were born or the town they grew in....I know that where I grew up in....I couldn´t wait to leave, I´d get on the bus, go to New York all the time....it seemed kind of small-minded, narrow-minded...but, uh, as you get a little older, it seems that, uh....I realised that one of the things that I was afraid of at the time was I was afraid of belonging to something ... ´cause when you belong to something that means there´s some responsobility there .... whether it´s your town or your....city or a state or the country that you live in....and, uh, sometimes that´s a hard responsobility....to shoulder....but tonight when you go out into the lobby during intermission, you´re gonna see some folks from....The Emergency Care Help Organization, they´re called ECHO and what that is they´re people here in Tallahassee that....are trying to help the people that are....having a tough time with their lives, that are unemployed....people that have got problems, family problems, alcoholism, maybe they´re not getting enough to eat, a wide variety of social problems, these people are trying to deal with ´em all....get toys for kids on Christmas that can´t afford it.....and uh....this is, uh, this is a particularly special organization that you have here because what they teach people to do is they come in and people that aren´t making it, they teach ´em, they teach ´em how to help themselves, it´s not just that they´re a charitable organization, it´s an organization that helps people get their lives back in order, it gives ´em counselling, helps ´em find jobs if they need ´em....and there´s a, there´s a real good woman named Toni (?)....who´s been working on this for a long time, for four years and mainly what she´s trying to do is have Tallahassee people help Tallahassee people, you know, it´s, uh....and even if you´re just down here going to school or something, you´re sharing in the community....and she´s, she and ECHO are trying to make Tallahassee a better place to live....so if this is your hometown.....or ever if it´s your hometown only for a little while....she can use your help...so when you go out there, check her out, see if you can give ´em a little support, thank you....”
 * 07.12.84 Tallahassee, FL, intro to ´My Hometown´**

´´Well, now, this is a song.....about the conflict.....between worldly things and spiritual health....between desires of the flesh....and spiritual ecstasy...they say you can´t have both....well, now, where did this conflict begin ?.....well, it began in the beginning in a place called the Garden of Eden....now, the Garden of Eden was originally believed to have been located in Mesopotamia....but the latest theological studies have found that its actual location was ten miles south of Jersey City, off the New Jersey Turnpike.....now, that´s why they call it the Garden State....but, now, understand....in the Garden of Eden, there were none of the accoutrements of modern living....they didn´t have no houses or a little bed you crawl up into at night, you couldn’t go home and put the little Pop-Tarts in the toaster and then jump in the sack and watch ‘Johnny Carson’....you couldn’t go out on to the highway and buy a cheeseburger if you wanted one....no Sir !....in the Garden of Eden....there was no sin...there was no sex....man lived in a state of innocence ....well, now, when it comes to no sex, I prefer the state of guilt that I live in ....but before the tour started, I decided to make a spiritual journey to the location of the Garden of Eden to find out the answer to some of these mysteries....why my body pulls me one way and why my soul pulls me in another, what’s the meaning of all this temptation....so I hitchhiked out there.....and I found out that that spot is now occupied by Happy Dan´s Celebrity Used Car Lot....I walked in, the man said to me ´Son, you need a yellow convertible , a four-door DeVille with a Continental spare, wide chrome wheels, air-conditioning, automatic heat, fold-out bed in your backseat, eight-track tapedeck , TV and a phone so you can speak to your baby when you’re driving all alone’...I said ‘I’ll take two’....I said ´But Dan, that´s really not the reason why I came, you see, I wanna know the answer....when did this temptation begin....when did this conflict begin.....and he said ´Well, son, that´s easy ....because right here on these 100 beautifully industrially-zoned acres was the sweetest little paradise that man had ever seen, now, in the Garden of Eden there was many wonderous things : there was a Tree of Life, there was a Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, there was a man, Adam, there was a woman, Eve, and she looked so fine ....and when Adam kissed her, it was the first time that a man had ever kissed a woman ....and she had legs that were long and pale....and when Adam touched her, it was the first time that a man had ever touched a woman...and then they lay down in the green grass....and when Adam....well, son, it was the first time....but there was something else in the Garden of Eden on that day, old Satan came slithering up on his belly and somehow he turned their love into a betrayal and sent them running down into the darkness below...but right here tonight on this backlot for 99.95 and no money down....I have the keys to their getaway car....if you´ve got the nerve to ride....I´ve got the first....pink....Cadillac....”
 * 07.12.84 Tallahassee, FL, intro to ‘Pink Cadillac’**

´´I remember when we first started going out, I met her on this....little strip that was down by the river...and at first we´d go out laughing and riding all the time...you know how it is when you first meet somebody, everything....everything you do is fun....but then it seems as time went on, for some reason the things...the things that made her happy once....just didn´t make her happy any more....and I was ending up spending most of my time trying to find ways...that I thought would bring it back again or make it the way it was before....but uh....she got to where she just wanted to stay, stay in all the time, to not talk....she´d hide my keys so I, so I couldn´t go out at night....I don´t know what happened to her...and it got hard to make her understand that when I took the car out....and when I won....that it was the only time.....that I got to feeling good about myself....and I know she knew....and that to have just one thing....one thing in your whole life that you can do....that makes you feel proud of yourself....I don´t think that´s too much for anybody to ask....is it ?.... (....) Well, that was the night that we left....we still don´t know where we´re going yet ....but I guess that´ll come in time....but sometimes it seems like....like time gets running so short on you, like it´s running out on you....and all you can do is....just keep going and keep searching....and keep going and keep going....just keep going.....”
 * 07.12.84 Tallahassee, FL, intro to ´Racing in the Street´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//